Captions by Philip McKibbin. Edited by June Yeow. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015 UPBEAT MUSIC Maia is among the best females in wheelchair rugby in the whole world. I'm probably the fittest and the strongest that I've ever been. I love watching her smash them. Representing NZ is a pretty cool feeling. SOMBRE MUSIC Not long ago, I felt like I better well not be here. Just angry,... depressed. I don't like looking at myself. I was in a car fire when I was 18 months, and I was in hospital for the burns. Something happened. I got a spinal infection that made me paralysed. My life changed when my mum died. I didn't have anyone I felt comfortable to be around. I didn't really care about myself. Four years ago, Titia became my carer, and my life changed massively. UPLIFTING MUSIC I bet she'd say I'm her ching chong bro. (LAUGHS) You're my ching chong bro. (LAUGHS) It's, uh` It's true. (LAUGHS) I'm a little bit, um, crack up. Hope there's no ca-ca. Hope there's no ca-ca. (LAUGHS) She helped me with goals and helped me achieve becoming a NZ Wheel Black. I push her harder than sometimes she'd like to be pushed, cos I know she can. What do you want to be when you get big? What do you want to be when you get big? BOTH LAUGH When I'm a big girl, eh? Yeah. Be a ninja. Be a ninja. BOTH LAUGH Mais has achieved heaps in the last six months. Some of the things just in 2013 for her was achieving Wheel Blacks squad. She's got a car she's driving. She's training by herself. She was my bridesmaid, which was` really meant a lot to me. She won the Courage in Sport award last year. That was huge. Thanks, my ching chong... (LAUGHS) and my family. Yeah. CHEERING Five, four, three, two, one, go! Coach says I've gotten a bit better and a bit more confident, but I still need to work on a few things. WHISTLE BLOWS UPBEAT MUSIC Wheelchair rugby is like American football but for wheelchair users. I'm the only female in the national team. I see her growing more in confidence and being able to speak a little bit more. Not a lot, but a little bit, and it's really cool. I do it heaps more now... (LAUGHS) to call for the ball. Whenever I have the ball, and before I get stopped, I need to think what I'm gonna do next, not think about it when I'm stopped. How do you practise that? How do you practise that? Yeah. (LAUGHS) That's what I don't know. It's hard. Hi! (GROANS) Hi, Minnie! Mwah! Titia's married now. Got a husband, got their own house. How was your day? How was your day? It was good. Me and my husband would like to have babies. Married now, so it would be such a blessing to have little mini Butlers. (LAUGHS) Hi, bubba. How was your day, Dad? How was your day, Dad? Good. Next year, we're going back up north. Me and my husband and my dad are moving back home to the homestead. Since my mum died, it's` I just keep thinking of home, and just would rather take my dad home. It was a hard decision, of course, with Mais, but I feel it's time for her to... (LAUGHS) spread her wings and become amazing ` more amazing. And it's time for me to take care of my family. I know she's really sad. She just doesn't really say much about it at the moment. UPBEAT ELECTRONIC MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUES 1 The Wheel Blacks are 10th in the world at the moment. And how is that for NZ standards? Not that good. All of the other teams have lots more money than we do. How confident is the team that it's gonna...? How confident is the team that it's gonna...? Pretty confident. If everyone trains hard and does what they need to do. She's training all the time, even when she's sick. She tells herself, 'No, I can't be sick! I have to` I have to go to the gym, or I have to go for my push.' And I think, 'Man, if that was me.' (LAUGHS) 'Nah, bro, I'm not going for a push.' I train six days a week. Some days I don't even wanna get out of bed. (LAUGHS) But I just get up and go train. Got the Canada Cup coming up soon. We all got an email that said, 'Congratulations, guys ` and girl.' (LAUGHS) TIMER BLARES I need some water on me. Sometimes sore. Always tired. Just get random pain every now and then. (GROANS) It's so sore. (PANTS) Maia's had a little bit of a luge accident in Rotorua. Got her checked out properly, and they found a tumour growth on her pancreas. SOMBRE MUSIC Got some sort of tumour on my pancreas. Cancer. SOMBRE MUSIC The old Mais of how she would have been able to deal with it then, and this new Mai's dealing with it now and trusting herself. Not getting caught in that worst case scenario battle in our head, and focusing on one point at a time. Soon I have to have the biopsy, and... however that... (SIGHS) whatever that comes back depends whether I'll have to have surgery or not. SOMBRE MUSIC What are the fears you have? Um, mostly when I'm in bed, at night-time. What emotions do you have? Do you feel angry sometimes? (SIGHS) Sometimes I just think, 'Why me?' And I just think, 'I should be grateful. Still here.' # When I'm alone # and I've got no one to dry my tears, # I hear a voice crying out # in my need. # He's saying, # 'Put down your troubles # 'and take these keys I'm offering you. # 'Unlock the door and finally # 'be freed. # 'You hear my words, # 'but you don't heed them. # 'Let in the sunshine, # 'say goodbye to your dark days # 'and let the light shine through always.' # So, we're off to see the specialist today ` he's awesome ` just to find out the results of Mais'` of Mais' pancreas. Yeah. (SIGHS) We're a bit nervous, but we're trying to stay positive, to deal with whatever it is we're dealing with. Big thing about this is it's not in our control. Especially seeing Mais make so much progress, a big thing like this adds a whole different dimension of pressure, and I'm just doing my best to be able to support her. I'm feeling all right. I'm just trying to think about other stuff. And what's Letitia been saying? She says heaps of nice stuff. (LAUGHS) Hey, Shawshank. Hey, Shawshank. BOTH LAUGH Are you ready? Eh? Are you nervous? > I won't get nervous till I get to the hospital. Come on, let's go. You can do this. UNSETTLING MUSIC MUSIC LIFTS It's quite scary for Mais, because a lot of her family have passed away from cancer, and I know that it's a real hard mental challenge for her. Hi there. Hi there. Hello. Hi there. Hello. Come on in. You all right there? Yeah. So, Maia, one of the things I wanted to, um, talk to you today about was the` what kind of tumour this is. So this is the, uh` the pancreas. Like that. That's the shape ` looks like a tadpole. And the tumour itself is about that big. This is life-size. And, uh, we have a choice to make. Uh, we're either going to, um, try and take out just this segment of the pancreas. Uh, that might prove quite difficult, and it's more likely that we'll need to take all of that out, even though that's a small tumour. So that operation is` takes about six or seven hours. I've discussed this with the other oncologists and other surgeons here at our meeting, and we all agreed that if there are things going on in your life, um, this could be deferred. Not forever. We'll still need to face up to having to do something on this, but we need to plan surgery for it. So it can wait until after August? So it can wait until after August? What's in August? So it can wait until after August? What's in August? Uh, world champs in Denmark. Is that` Is that in Denmark? Is there something in Canada before then, I think, isn't there? Yeah, that's soon. So when would you be finished all of that? These responsibilities to rugby? End of August. End of August. I think we can wait until after that, all right? UPBEAT MUSIC All right, this side. Still up this side. Coming your back, Billy ` got your back. I've got the back. I've got the back. You got that? You got that? I've got this side. Being diagnosed with that` the type of cancer that she has, she hasn't really even talked to the boys about it. She doesn't want pity. I've got this side. She doesn't want it to affect the way they look at her or affect, um, her ability to train. So she's, sort of, just spoken a bit to` a bit about it to a couple of the boys. I think mainly Gavin. So how are you feeling, Mais? How's the body and the tumour and the biopsy? What's come back after that? Um, definitely gotta have surgery, but it can wait till after worlds. Oh, OK, so`so there's some positive there. Oh, OK, so`so there's some positive there. Yeah. That's awesome. I can't do it! (LAUGHS) I can't! (LAUGHS) Come on, Maia! Come on, Maia! LAUGHING: I can't! (LAUGHS) Catch me! (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS) Oh no! (LAUGHS) I'm off to Canada for the Canada Cup. This is our last training before we got to Canada. We just need to keep working together as a team, keep training hard. Mais is gonna be in Canada for 10 days, which is probably the longest we've, um, been apart. How do you feel about travelling without your ching chong? Happy as? (LAUGHS) (SIGHS) No, I don't like it. (SOBS) (SOBS) You don't have to be tough all the time. Did you know that? (SNIFFLES) I don't like talking about... Yeah, it's scary that you have to go alone. But you still do it, because you love rugby, and that's` that's beautiful. See you when you get back, eh? Be strong. You show them what Whakatane's made of, OK? Really nervous, because she's all the way on the other side of the world. I miss her heaps, yes. EXCITING MUSIC CROWD EXCLAIMS Been playing for three years. Not that long. It's gonna be hard. Her biggest thing is herself. I just` like, she's her worst critic. But yeah, just every single day, I'll ring her before her game and we'll just let her know that we're thinking of her. And when there are things happening over there that she gets frustrated about, just talking about them. Trying to turn it into something funny, or... (LAUGHS) something positive so she feels happy again. How are you feeling about this game? How are you feeling about this game? I'm feeling all right. Is it an important one? Is it an important one? Yeah, we have to win it. UPBEAT MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUES PLAYERS SHOUT TO EACH OTHER MUSIC CONTINUES Get up, Mais! Get up, Mais! Tight, tight, tight, tight! TIMER BLARES WHISTLE BLOWS UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYERS SHOUT TO EACH OTHER MUSIC CONTINUES 1 TIMER BLARES Maia's had an interesting first day. Yesterday, she just looked nervous as hell before we started. But once she was into the` into the rhythm, into the game, you know, she does what she does well, and she realised that and just got into the groove of it. She still doesn't have confidence. She doesn't believe in herself or see how good she is like we do. But the rest of the boys just have faith in her. WOMAN: Strong lady. Great job! > Well done! I think that's your first? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah? You were great! Hi! It's nice to meet you! What was your name? What was your name? Miranda. You're Maia, yes? And this is your first big big tournament? Yeah. How long have you been playing for? Um... Oh, that's a good question! I started in 2007, just playing in general, and then I've been with Arcadian Program since 2009. This is my third year. This is my third year. Third year? This is my third year. Third year? Yeah. On the national team, or just in general? On the national team, or just in general? Uh... just in general. Wow! Pushin' really good. SOLEMN MUSIC I could only imagine what she was thinking about while she was in Canada, cos she had her surgery as soon as she got back. So there would have been a lot of things weighing on her mind. Yeah, but she would've just left it all off the court and gone hard, I could imagine. SOLEMN MUSIC So... we've got, like, less than one week till surgery to go. Now it's, like, seven sleeps. Sorry, Mais likes heaps of MILO. (LAUGHS) Yeah, it's just a little bit... (SIGHS) not intense, but just a little bit more to carry this week. Here, my bro. Thank you. Cheers. Cheers. Tables. Cheers. Tables. (LAUGHS) It was something that Mais said when we were waiting for an appointment. I sorta had an insight of what it would've been like for her when she was younger. And I pictured her mum by her. And I suggested to Mais, Could I be there while they operated on her? and she said, 'Oh, yeah, my mum used to be there.' And I thought, 'Well, you know, it's something that I'd wanna do for her.' HEAVY MUSIC I feel, like, calm about everything. I feel really positive. Yeah. We've had a good morning. HEAVY MUSIC Love you! Now it's just a big waiting game. Um... get anxious, and... And we came prepared to camp out at the hospital all day. I think it was about` between five to eight hours, the procedure. SOLEMN MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUES 1 They were really happy with the surgery. John said it was a really` a hard procedure, and it went as expected. Mais is in recovery, and, um, she's just doing really well. I just wanna help her,... because she really needs` needs me more than ever. And I'm just trying my best to make her happy, lift her spirit. She's really doing really good. I hope this shows Mais that it doesn't matter where I am, that I'll always be there for her. Doctor didn't really say much. He said I was allowed to start training, but no contact, and I'm not listening. (LAUGHS) She's gotten a little bit more confident. She's like a little light of inspiration to a lot of people, and although the challenges come, or the trials comes, just those little steps of knowing she can get through it. Pea-knuckle, pea-knuckle... She`She'll need another caregiver. (LAUGHS) But I always tell her that the only thing I won't be here doing would be doing the caregiving things. The friendship and the sisterhood that we've had for the last four years will still be there. Come on, nano. No, we're not going to race! No, we're not going to race! BOTH LAUGH I just love that girl so much. (LAUGHS) And there might be a lot of people out there who claim to be her number one fan, but sorry, get in line! (LAUGHS) Cheers, my bro. Cheers, my bro. Tables. Cheers, my bro. Tables. (LAUGHS) (SIGHS) Thank you for everything you've done for me. (SNIFFLES) I will miss you. For more about Maia, including an interview with her new carer, head to ` Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015